Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.
Pabst Brewing Co. recently changed its Stag beer logo for the second time in three years, and billions of people in the world couldn’t care less.
But this is Belleville.
It’s the city where Stag was born and brewed for decades, where love of Stag has been handed down through the generations, where Stag on tap is a major selling point for bars and restaurants, and where Stag tank tops and sweatshirts are wardrobe staples for some.
It’s a culture, according to John Bigalke, 54, owner of Beatnik’s T-shirt shop on East Main Street.
“There’s a crossover with Stag beer and Belleville history and farming and family and deer hunting and going fishing with Grandpa,” he said. “It’s like Cardinals baseball. People drink it because their grandparents drank it.”
Stag clothing accounts for about 80% of retail sales on the floor at Beatnik’s, which opened more than 20 years ago.
Bigalke applauds Pabst’s decision to return to Stag’s classic 12-point buck logo this summer and ditch the updated graphic image with stylized deer head that it used for three years, but it probably won’t affect his business much.
“My customers were completely uninterested in the modern label,” he said. “For Stag lovers, it’s all about tradition.”
The classic logo is hand-painted on a photo board that stands on the sidewalk outside Beatnik’s. Stag-loving visitors can stick their faces through a hole topped by deer antlers and pose for the camera.
Tina Hofmeister, 58, of Collinsville, slammed on the brakes and parked her car when she saw the board on a recent weekday. She knew that her boyfriend, John Vahlkamp, would want a photo.
He did.
“I was raised on Stag beer,” said Vahlkamp, 59, of Collinsville, formerly of Belleville. “That’s what my dad drank, so that’s what I drink. I worked with my dad (for the St. Clair County Farm Service Agency),…